New York City: Brooklyn Terrace (March 2013)

My spouse and I had cocktails at Brooklyn Terrace on a Saturday evening in early March 2013. This establishment is located on the top floor of the Sheraton and Aloft properties on Duffield Street. (We stayed across the street at the Indigo Hotel.) We stopped in at approximately 9:00 pm on a Saturday evening after dining nearby at Brooklyn Fare. A doorman was just outside the street entrance, and he directed us to walk down a hallway and wait at the end of the rope. He radioed up to the terrace to have someone accompany us in the elevator to the top.

The space is attractive, with lots of small groupings of low seats with small cocktail tables in the center of each group, many of whose tables held Reserved signs. The back area of the club was not open at the time that we arrived; however, we peeked around the rope and could tell that those tables were reserved as well. We saw at least two large-screen TVs on the walls, although clearly patrons come here for the live DJ. (We left before the action really began.)

Cocktails and appetizers are in the $12 to $15 range; beer and wine are also available. Although there is no cover charge, they institute a $3 per person mandatory coat check fee, which makes perfect sense in the winter (in lieu of a cover charge), but we wonder what they do in the summer months when no one has a coat to check? You definitely want to visit here in the warm weather - there is a huge outdoor terrace with cool, low-slung furniture and some papasan-type chairs, plus smoking is allowed outside, and you have great views of Brooklyn.

We did not stay long; we really just wanted to have a quick nightcap before returning to our hotel. We appreciated that no one made us feel out of place or uncomfortable, even though we showed up in a suit jacket and business dress that we wore to dinner, and even though we clearly were not part of their usual young, clubbing crowd. From what we could see, Brooklyn Terrace looks like a great nighttime spot!